 "Android 4.1 Jelly Bean rollout begins for Asus PadFone 2")
For those of you rocking the new PadFone 2 from Asus, here is a bit of information you may find interesting. The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update is now rolling out for the PadFone 2 and is available via an over-the-air update.
According to a report by Engadget, the update is available for the smartphone part of this hybrid device. The report notes that though the proprietary skin remains the same, one can benefit from all the additional features Android 4.1 Jelly Bean brings to the table, including Project Butter, which is designed to make the entire user experience fluid and lag free.
Update now rolling out to the Asus PadFone 2
The PadFone 2 is a 4.7-inch Android smartphone that docks with the PadFone 2 Station to become a 10.1-inch tablet. Apps are optimised to support both tablet and phone modes, offering an instant transition between smartphone and tablet screen sizes.
At the announcement of the PadFone 2 in October, Asus claimed that its ‘Design Thinking’ philosophy had helped in reducing the PadFone 2 Station’s thickness and weight. The device now weighs 649 grams with the combined weight of both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station, making it lighter than most tablets on the market. The dock mechanism has been redesigned to require just one step. PadFone 2 has also been designed to increase its screen size to 4.7-inches, while the thickness and weight has been reduced to just 9 mm (at its thickest point) and 135 g respectively.
Running on Android ICS out of the box
Here is a quick look at the highlighted features of the Asus PadFone 2:
- 4.7-inch 720p Super IPS+ panel with up to 550nits brightness
- LTE, 3G, GPRS, NFC, Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth 4.0 with USB 2.0 Host
- 13MP f/2.4 BSI sensor with full HD video recording at 30fps, 1.2MP front camera
- 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions
- MHL for AV out
Asus claims that the PadFone 2’s 2140mAh battery provides up to 16 hours 3G talk-time and 13 hours Wi-Fi web browsing, while PadFone 2 Station’s 5000mAh battery gives up to 36 hours of 3G talk-time. PadFone 2 Station’s internal battery also has enough capacity to recharge the docked PadFone 2 three times over. However, this claim cannot be verified until we put it through our stringent battery test.
The handset comes equipped with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 quad-core processor with 2GB of RAM. The display uses scratch-resistant Corning Fit Glass and offers a wide viewing angle and 550 nits brightness for stunning outdoor visibility.
The camera featured here features a burst mode that can capture up to 100 shots at six shots per second and is capable of recording 1080p HD video at 30fps, or 720p HD video at 60fps. Both PadFone 2 and PadFone 2 Station feature above average sound quality because of the ASUS SonicMaster technology and audio tuning by Waves.
The PadFone 2 comes with 50GB of ASUS WebStorage free for two years. Data syncing between devices is easy as the PadFone 2 storage is used by PadFone 2 Station when the two are connected, while NFC allows users to share webpages, contacts and user recommendations from the Google Play Store with others. Shared mobile data connectivity between smartphone and tablet also means just one data plan is needed for both devices.
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